Blender 2.40 is out...
The new version of Blender came out a little while ago, and man oh man, there is some good stuff in there! Some wonderful updates (modifiers and more), bug fixes (Python scripts work under Windows again), and some really neat things that were donated by Google's summer of code (soft bodies & fluids). My favorite so far has to be the FUR!
Too much fun. Fur tools are neat because you don't have to model those bits of hair, they are generated automatically upon render and based upon a set of controllable parameters. The hair can also be effected by wind, gravity, and other physics if you're an animator. It amazes me that what a few years ago cost many thousands of dollars to do now is available for free via open source. Viva la Open Source!
Blender talks nicely to my CNC software as well, so it's one of my main tools that I'm using, and you'll soon see some Blender -> CNC -> product how-to's soon. It's just great to see this software growing so quickly!
Too much fun. Fur tools are neat because you don't have to model those bits of hair, they are generated automatically upon render and based upon a set of controllable parameters. The hair can also be effected by wind, gravity, and other physics if you're an animator. It amazes me that what a few years ago cost many thousands of dollars to do now is available for free via open source. Viva la Open Source!
Blender talks nicely to my CNC software as well, so it's one of my main tools that I'm using, and you'll soon see some Blender -> CNC -> product how-to's soon. It's just great to see this software growing so quickly!